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Topic: Four hives poisoned (Read 1067 times)

I put two hives at a friend's house last year, and added two more this year. This morning he called me up and told me they were "booming" and that I should come over to see. I drove over and as soon as I stepped out of my truck I smelled insecticide. We had talked about the importance of not spraying, but he had done it anyway. He didn't even know what it was, just "something for lawns", but he "didn't go near the hives". We walked over to look at them, and there were thousands of dead and dying bees around the entrances. Bees kept falling out, squirming around for a few minutes, and dying. I opened three of the hives, there were a few live bees but not a lot. This is incredibly depressing.

How absolutely horrible!!! I am so very sorry to hear this!! :'( What in the world did he say when the bees were dying in front of his eyes??? :shock: I agree he should take full responsibility for replacing the bees, and I would be suspect of that equipment for some time, as well! What a shame....

i'm sure he thought that if he sprayed the lawn and didn't go near the hives, it was ok. it's actually a very logical assumption. did the bees have a water source that they usually use?

you will never keep people from spraying. i spray stuff sometimes. rather than educating them on the dangers of spraying, try educating them on the right kinds of sprays and the best time to spray.

won't help you now, but maybe for the next time....or the next person.

it sucks, but it happens.....

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While it is a terrible loss. I don't think you can expect your friend to reimburse you for messing up a favor. Unless you were paying him to host your hives.

It sounds like an honest mistake. Hopefully it did dawn on him that he killed the bees and will not do such a thing again. But perhaps storing hives at his house that you aren't willing to lose isn't a good idea because he obviously does spray his lawn and instead of calling you to ask what might happen or if it would be ok for the bees he just reckoned that if he stayed away for the hives they'd be ok.

I'm sorry for your loss. I'm still new enough I morn each bee I kill by accident yet alone whole hives dying.

We beekeepers have fighting Loudoun County because they want to spray large areas for Lime and other things. We keep telling them the 2 - 3 mile range of the bees and how their spraying (from the air) does not drop straight down but drifts with the wind.They sprayed anyway. The only good thing is it rained real hard that afternoon about 2 hours after the scheduled spraying (they were not smart enough to delay the spraying due to bad weather). Now they do not have the money to respray. -Mike

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